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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Oregano honey, anyone?

My daughter and I spent a long while yesterday watching (and photographing) a beautiful group of busy bees making their way through our oregano patch.  They carefully went looking for pollen in each and every tiny blossom on the plants, hundreds of blossoms for them to visit.  I had been complaining about the ever-spreading oregano that's taking over a large section of our herb garden, but here was my answer.  I needed to be reminded that all the plants we may be tending have more purpose than just for our own interests, and these bees were obviously very happy to have found this oregano abundance!  I searched online for oregano honey, and there is quite a niche in the health food market promoting wild oregano and garden oregano honey as a health tonic - beneficial for healing coughs, colds, flu, bronchitis, arthritis, and it's antioxidant properties.

Speaking of bees, here is a link to an interesting project in New York City called the Great Pollinator Project.  They list information on how to become a "bee watcher", a land manager, or participate in other ways to increase the abundance of bees in urban areas.  They write that 1/3 of our food depends on the  services of a pollinator (bee, other insect, bird, or mammal).  Increasing the diversity in our gardens with pollinator-attracting plants and blooms, plus water features like ponds, is incredibly important for food security.

1 comment:

  1. does anyone in North America produce oregano honey? I can only find one oregano honey sold on-line, and it's source is mediterranean.

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